Thomson

It’s a heck of a way to run a pre-election campaign. On the eve of an expected election, politicians usually spend their time playing up good news, downplaying the bad, shaking hands and kissing babies.

Rowing Canada fails to hit Olympic targets as men’s pair finish last in final

Both eights win medals for the first time since 1992, but the team expected to reach the podium in as many as five events

ETON-DORNEY — Darcy Marquardt invested a decade of her life in pursuit of an Olympic medal and Thursday, as she sported one around her neck, she wasn’t particularly interested in analyzing the bigger picture around it.

ETON-DORNEY — It’s all a matter of perspective and, in an attempt to put a positive spin on the Canadian performance at the Olympic rowing regatta, Peter Cookson came up with this.

Canada placed both eights on the podium for the first time since Barcelona. That meant 16 rowers left Lake Dorney with medals around their neck which, when you do the math, is the same number of rowers who won medals in Beijing.

“I’m proud that we had 16 athletes on the podium,” said Cookson, Rowing Canada’s high-performance director. “That’s a lot for any sport.”

But this is also true. In Beijing, Canadian rowers won four medals, including a gold. In London, the Canadian team also set a pre-Olympic goal of three to five medals with five to six boats in the A final. They finished with two medals; just three crews made the final.

And that, despite the strong performances of the eights, is the more revealing data to emerge from Lake Dorney.

Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen, the only other boat to reach a final, finished sixth and last on Friday.

“I’m sad for them,” Cookson said of the men’s double. “They’re two high-calibre athletes. It just didn’t work out the way we thought it would.”

The Victoria-based pair, who won silver in Beijing four years ago, represented Canada’s last hope at the Eton College rowing centre and a chance leave the Olympics on a high note. But the boat was never really in the race. Owing to wind conditions, they were shuffled to Lane 2 by FISA ‘s fairness committee from Lane 6, fell behind early and crossed the finish line last.

Calder, from Victoria, and Frandsen, from Kelowna, aren’t the biggest or most powerful rowers but, through their careers, they’ve been able to find a chemistry that allowed them to compete at the highest reaches of their sport. It just wasn’t there on Friday.

New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won gold, followed by Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette of France. Britain’s George Nash and William Satch won bronze.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done here but I really wanted to walk away with a medal,” said Calder, who will retire after four Olympic appearances. “I really wanted to challenge the Kiwis. Nobody [back home] is going to judge me but, in my heart, I wanted to win for me and I wanted to win for everybody who’s been behind me.”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” said Frandsen. “The process has been incredibly rewarding. It’s tough to end it like that.”

Cookson, meanwhile, said a review of London will follow for Rowing Canada.

“Our indications from the pre-Olympic training camp were really good,” he said. “We had good speed going in all the boats. We thought we could get five to six finals and it didn’t pan out.

There are a whole lot of factors I need to look into. I just need to go through some reflection with the coaches and find out what really happened here.”

Canada currently sits sixth in the rowing medals table with four finals to go. Great Britain has six medals, followed by New Zealand with four (including three gold), Germany and Australia with three and the U.S. with two, including one gold.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Sports Highlights

Sports Videos

EDMONTON JOURNAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

When news breaks in Edmonton and beyond, be the first to know by signing up for our breaking news email alerts. Our staff will keep you ahead of the curve on big news stories and events.